the South China Sea is one of the biggest flash point in Asia involving China several of its neighbors and the United States the three and a half million square kilometer patch of water is one of the world's busiest shipping routes and vast oil and gas reserves lie beneath to see that for decades they have been competing claims over who controls these hundreds of tiny islands reefs and Shoals and their surrounding waters.
China's claim to almost all of the South China Sea is indicated by these nine - lines..
It says history backs of this claim because before 1930 no one disputed the sovereignty over the territory but the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan say parts of the South China Sea belonged to them tensions have simmered over the years and sometimes they boiled over in 2012 for example the Philippine Navy harassed Chinese fishing boat and arrested the crew of one vessel that escalated into a tense standoff between a Chinese and Philippine navies over the past six decades China the Philippines Malaysia and Vietnam have occupied islands in the South China Sea reclaimed land and built military bases on them to assert their sovereignty.
China's efforts on this front have been the most aggressive according to the US government since 2014 China has reclaimed more than 3000 acres in ananza or Spratly Islands take a look at the satellite images of young Chui or fiery cross reef it was a sand Bank in August 2014 but by June 2016 it had been transformed into the sea port with an airstrip China says his reclamation projects are to meet the civil and defense needs but the US which has allies in the region has accused China of being a bully it has said China is reaching too far too fast in militarizing the islands in response the US has flown Air Force jets over the Chinese controlled islands and sailed warships near them it calls them freedom of navigation exercises is also conducted joint military exercises with Philippine Navy in the South China Sea China in turn has accused the u.s. of ratcheting up tensions in 2013 the Philippines brought arbitral proceedings against China to an international tribunal in The Hague.
China refused to take part in the proceedings despite that the tribunal ruled in 2016 the China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the South China Sea China rejected the tribunals ruling since then the Philippines and other claimant have done little to challenge China's continued development of the islands it controls but after all these decades the dispute remains unresolved over who rightfully owns these waters and the rich resources the lie beneath.
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